A Regular President

It happened. At this last press conference it happened. I didn't even want to watch it or any of the after-chat, not only because the after chat was on at the same time as the Top Chef Masters I hadn't seen the week before but because I couldn't bear to hear what was coming, what I knew was unavoidable, inevitable even. The bloom, the blush, the glow around President Barack Obama, it all fell off. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. got arrested, the administration is making deals with insurance companies, and suddenly I find myself right back in America. The strangest thing is in this new America I find myself feeling something like admiration toward George W. Bush for not pardoning Scooter Libby. Strange what can happen.